The End of the Beginning
by KwiditchJunkie
Summary: Chapter 6. The Marauders are followed by a suspicious Lily who's looking for the truth. But she will find out the truth to secrets that she has not yet imagined was ever possible.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction that has to do with the world of Harry Potter! I'm so excited! I've been doing RPGs on forums for years before I finally came up with the idea of doing a Marauder fanfic! Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter related characters and places do not belong to me. It's all J.K. Rowling's doing… 'cause she's cool like that.

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Chapter 1: Last Chance

A bespectacled, young man approached the large red steam engine labeled The Hogwarts Express, with a trunk full of magical items in tow.

As James Potter (a.k.a. Prongs) lugged his enormous case onto the train he heard a familiar voice float in behind him. "… --telling you, Remus. This girl was hot. And I mean, hot like supermodel hot."

"And where, may I ask, did you meet this girl?" asked the other conversation maker.

There was a slight pause before the other voice continued, "The women's lingerie section… but that's beside the point. She fancied me…. I could sense it."

A laugh came from the other as James turned around with a grin on his face, "Have a good time with the ladies, Padfoot?" Sirius Black (a.k.a. Padfoot) was a tall and handsome Gryffindor, the same House as James and Remus. His jet black hair covered his eyes so elegantly it was odd to know that he didn't spend time in front of the mirror styling it. It's amazing to also realize that he was straight! (Author's Note: Double bonus! XD) He and his mature features made him a favorite with the ladies of Hogwarts.

Followed closely behind him were Remus and Peter. Peter Pettigrew (a.k.a. Wormtail) was a portly, blond, and shy boy. There isn't really anything too interesting to report about him. He was basically average at everything he did. You could even consider him a tag-along with the others but none the less, the others enjoyed his company.

With a mischeivious smile, Sirius laughed at James's comment not giving any details.

Remus added in, "And the slap to the face meant a 'no-harm; no foul' to him either." Remus Lupin (a.k.a Moony) was also another 7th year at Hogwarts. Dirty blonde hair and multiple scars he wasn't bad looking either. He had his own fair share of girls who were after him. Oh yeah… did I mention he is a werewolf?

But that never scared the others into abandoning their friendship with him. Instead, they did the exact opposite. They banded together to form a group called the Marauders.

Since werewolves are harmless to animals, the other three secretly decided to become unregistered animagi. The skill of becoming an Animagi is really high above the level of the students attending Hogwarts. It's a skill where the conjurer can willingly change into an animal form, whenever necessary. After repeated attempts, James, Sirius, and Peter finally pulled it off successfully.

A stag, a dog, and a rat, respectively.

During the long nights of Remus's transformations, the others would roam the grounds with him exploring the Forbidden Forest just outside of the school's perimeter and a number of other places that most students never saw their entire stay at Hogwarts. Their adventures together during those times were never regretted.

They'd gotten to know the school and its grounds so well, the four of them created a map. But this was no ordinary map. This map showed the entire school (secret passages, mysterious rooms, etc...) as well as the grounds with an added bonus of pinpointing the exact location of each individual located there.

They called it The Marauders Map.

All four of them heartily laughed as they stepped onto the train with their luggage.

Finding a compartment was easy. Kicking a group of first years out on account of 7th year upperclassmen rights, the Marauders rested in the comfortably confined section, waiting for the train to begin its trip to the school.

Just as James keeled over from laughing so hard while Sirius recapped all of their pillages during the summer, a red streak whizzed passed the compartment door. Coming to his senses, James leapt up and pulled open the door.

Walking briskly away was a red-haired girl who looked somewhat flustered as she peered into each compartment.

"Hey, Evans!" James called after her, coolly. Combing his hand through his hair to make it even messier than usual, he took on the visage of a tough badass.

Lily Evans turned around sharply to glare at James. Her fiery red hair and striking green eyes was the epitome of James's opinion of perfection.

"What is it now, Potter?" she asked, looking annoyed.

"Nothing…" he said, making his hair untidier as he shook his head. Slowly Lily approached him, and stared into his deep hazel eyes. She looked like she was going to hit him… for insubordination or something stupid like that.

"Is there something you want to say to me, Potter?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Will you marry me?" James mocked, smirking.

Suddenly, getting on her toes, she kissed him deeply on the mouth. Pulling away, she smiled at him, "I'm afraid I'll have to deny your request... maybe once you mature up a little, I'll consider it. Why didn't you call me this summer?"

"Sorry," James said, putting his hand on his head. "I was really busy this summer. I tried to write… or call… or something."

"That's okay. I forgive you," she said quietly. Kissing him again, the compartment door was blocked by someone standing in the way. It was Sirius.

"Ah. Miss Evans. What a pleasure to see you again! Got a friendly greeting for me? You know how lonely I am," he said, puckering up.

James rolled his eyes playfully as Lily smacked Sirius upside the head, "You wish."

Grabbing the back of his hair, Sirius whined, "Oh Lily! What would one must do to gain the affection of such a fair maiden such as yourself?"

"You're such a player," Lily said, smiling at him and grabbing onto James' shirt. She rested her head on his shoulder and looked at Sirius with sorrowful eyes, "I'm sure you'll get over it."

"I'm sure you're right!" Sirius said, completely doing a 180 personality change. He grinned widely and re-entered the compartment where Remus was reading his book and Peter was watching Sirius' act animatedly.

James lead Lily into the compartment just as the train began to slowly inch forward.

As James looked out the window, he could sense that the coming year would be an extremely eventful one. It was their last year all together at school and he was going to go out with a bang, whether the school was ready for it or not.

In a flash, Sirius got up and moved back over to the door. Grinning maliciously, he said quietly as he looked out the window into the hallway, "Why if it isn't our favorite prat, sniveling Snivellus."

James leapt to his feet, as Lily tried to grab onto his hand. But he was too quick. Standing next to Sirius, James could recognize the greasy trudge anywhere.

Sliding open the door ever so silently, they crept into the corridor. The clacking of the train took care of any other excess sound, especially ones from Lily urging him to leave him alone.

Severus "Snivellus" Snape was a 7th year Slytherin. Ever since they'd attended school together, the Marauders and Snape had loathed each other. It's rumored that Snape hated James because of his natural talent at Quidditch and his popularity at the school. Other theories suspect otherwise, such as having the prettiest girl in school as a girlfriend.

Sirius slowly pulled out his wand from the back pocket of his jeans and aimed for the back of Snape's head. "Fodio," he muttered.

Just then a small white jet of light shot out of his wand tip and smacked Snape in the back of his head.

Grabbing onto the back of his head, Snape wheeled around. The hook-nosed, greasy haired teenager looked more annoyed than ever.

Sirius and James both smiled at him, in mock kindness, "Oh! I'm sorry, Snivel—Severus!" Sirius said, bowing slightly. "Did that hit you? Oh, I'm terribly sorry… that your mother ever had a greasy git like you for a son."

Snape's face contorted into one of fury as he began charging straight for them. Suddenly, Lily moved in front of both James and Sirius, pressing her delicate hands on their chests. "Stop. It's not worth it."

Snape stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Lily. Maybe he was afraid of her quick spell casting,… or perhaps it was something else.

Lily whipped around, as Sirius gave Snape an extremely crude hand gesture. "You stop it too. If you don't, 10 points from both Gryffindor AND Slytherin." She jabbed her finger towards the end of the hall, "Snape, just go. Just leave. Get out of my sight."

Snape scowled through his lanky, black hair. Turning slowly, he walked away, thinking twice about his actions. But something was uttered out of his mouth that made James snap.

"What did you call her!" he said, jumping forward, but Lily held him back. Sirius just looked on, frowning.

"I said, Snape, what the hell did you call Lily?" James looked as if his head were about to explode.

Snape turned around and said quietly, "I called her a 'filthy mudblood'." Snape turned around again and continued to walk down the corridor.

James turned red in fury and tried to run after him but this time Lily, Sirius, Remus and Peter held on to his jacket. James tried to fight them, but he soon gave up. He looked down at Lily who said, "James… he's not worth your time."

"Yeah, Prongs," said Remus, who had finally decided to drop his book and join in restraining James. "Besides…" he pointed to the ground. "He jinxed that spot on the floor as he walked away. If you'd gone after him… oh, I'd say by the looks of it, you'd probably erupt in boils and sores all over your body."

Everyone looked at the strangely glinting space of carpet with disgust for a second and then backed away into the compartment. Remus took care of the potential hex and then came back into the alcove.

The rest of the ride to the school, the group were schemeing new and improved ways to get back at Snape. Lily and Peter usually stayed out of the conversation.

James and Sirius vowed that Snape would never get away with something like that again.

They'd rather die than see that happen.

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The more you review, the more I write! I want some feed back about this so I can improve on this a bit! 


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for not updating as often. Soccer, school and life have been interfering. (Hee hee!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any related characters or related objects.

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Chapter 2: Betrayed for Snogging

James and the group (fully robed in the school uniform) hopped out of the horseless carriage and ascended the steps up to the main entrance into the castle. They talked loudly and joked around as they entered the Great Hall.

The floating candles and high ceiling was a welcoming sight for everyone. The four tables lining the room were quickly filling up. They all sat down at the Gryffindor table and continued to laugh and talk with each other.

James noticed that Snape sat down at the Slytherin table all by himself. He scowled at the back of Snape's greasy head and continued talking with Lily who was resting her head on his shoulder once more.

Sirius was flirting with the pretty girl sitting next to him while Remus, who was sitting across the table from James and Sirius, rested his chin on his hands and flipped the pages of his book and occasionally laughed at Sirius and James's jokes. Peter on the other hand was staring absent mindedly at the vaulted ceiling that imitated the sky outside.

Once the Great Hall was filled to the brim with noise, Professor McGonagall (the Transfiguration teacher) brought out the Sorting Hat. Things quieted down almost immediately and James had to flick Sirius in the back of the head to make him stop talking to the girl.

The doors to the Great Hall opened and the first years filed in. Sirius began talking with the girl again and made her giggle in a high pitched squeal, "Oh you!"

After the song and the sorting everything was settling back down as Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, stood up.

"Welcome, students, to another fine year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Dumbledore said with an air of great excitement. "Now, before I let you dive into this wonderful feast prepared for you, I have a few announcements to make. Let me introduce to you, Professor Horace Cope who will be taking over the position of Divination teacher."

There was a polite amount of clapping for the lanky wizard who was sitting at the end of the table. The top of his pointed hat had a star sitting on top of it.

"And also we have Professor Pam Perd who will be filling in the position for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Dumbledore said, indicating to a witch three seats down from himself.

Now, James and the others could sense that this one was going to be quite a handful. She looked down her long pointed nose to the students with the utmost attitude of a snob, they could almost feel it. Her blonde hair was tied into a bun so tightly, it seemed to stretch the skin on her face so tight it was giving her a facelift.

Her pale skin and lots of make-up stood out from the usual clash of casual wear the other teachers were donning.

Her long, red nails gleamed in the candle light and her cold eyes observed the students. Perd's lips were puckered into a permanent look of something sour in her mouth.

Sirius leaned over to James and muttered, "B-I-T-C-H warning."

James smirked and nodded in agreement. Remus silently laughed but stopped once Professor Dumbledore began to speak again.

"Now! Before I keep you any longer, your feast!"

The golden plates in front of them filled magically and their goblets full of pumpkin juice.

The Great Hall burst into a fit of loud talking and laughing as people began to relax back into the rhythm of being back at school.

"Hey, Remus," Sirius said, through a mouthful of pie that the girl just fed him from her own fork, "You're not talking much. You feeling alright?"

"Not really," Remus said, shuffling his mashed potatoes around his plate. "It's almost time."

Immediately, they all knew what he meant. "Oh right," said Sirius swallowing.

"Hey, Lily?" James asked. "Can you go see what Professor McGonagall wants us to do for the first week? I know that she always has stuff for us to do." James and Lily were both Head Boy and Girl.

"Right," said Lily suspiciously. She got up and left the group to talk with each other.

Sirius pushed the girl's fork away and leaned in to Remus, "How long?"

"Four days," Remus said, closing his book.

"Excellent!" Sirius said, grinning.

"Yeah, for you maybe," Remus shot back.

"Sorry," Sirius replied.

"Nah, it's alright. I'll see you guys upstairs, alright? I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight." Remus got up and headed out of the Great Hall with a silent wave.

James watched after him and said, "He does look sick…. I'll probably sneak out tonight and grab him a Butterbeer or something. Maybe even some Chocolate Frogs."

"Yeah, I'll come too. I need to stock up on some Sugar Quills while we're there," Sirius added. "You coming too, Wormtail?"

"Not tonight, I think I'll go to bed too. I'm pretty sure I forgot some things at home… I need to write to Mum to fly them out," Peter said.

"Are you sure you're not just sneaking out to snog some broad from Manchester! Eh? Eh?" Sirius asked, poking him in the arm from across the table.

"I'm not!" Peter said, growing red in the face.

"You are!" Sirius said, his eyes gleaming. "You dog!"

Peter slowly grinned and said, "Well, there is this one girl…"

"HA! I knew it!" Sirius said, slamming his fist into the table, making his spoon fly into the air.

Lily came back to the table and sat next to James again, catching Sirius's spoon in her hand.

James smiled and waved his hand nonchalantly at Peter, "Well, fine. Go. Snog your girlfriend. Betray your friends when you're needed most."

Peter flushed again, "I'd never do that! You guys know that!"

"What? Peter's got a girlfriend?" Lily asked, grinning.

"Yeah! And he's leaving his friends to go over to the Dark Side!" Sirius called, pointing his finger accusingly at him.

Peter rolled his eyes and said, "I'm going up, too. See you guys later."

Sirius cuffed his hands around his mouth and called after Peter, "Make sure you say hi to snooky for us, will you!"

Once Peter had disappeared into the Entrance Hall, Lily asked, "So that was the reason why you made me conveniently miss out on your little secret society conversation?"

"No, it's just… It's a secret," James whispered.

"Right, secret…" Lily said slowly, eyebrows raised.

Sirius turned to his bench buddy (a.k.a. the girl sitting next to him) and said, "Now. Where were we?"

Sometime after Dumbledore made his final speech and sent everyone off to bed, Lily, James and Sirius walked back up to the Gryffindor common room. James and Lily held hands as Sirius rested his own on top of his head looking satisfied.

"That was good," Sirius said, stretching.

"What dinner? Or the fact that you're planning to go snogging that girl after classes tomorrow?"

"Both," Sirius said with a sly grin.

Suddenly, Nearly Headless Nick came floating through a door which Sirius was walking past and fazed right through him.

Yelling and jumping out of the way, Sirius whipped around, "Holy—chocolate starfish!" Sirius caught himself from swearing in front of Lily. "Nice to see you though, Nick!"

"As well to you, Black," Nick said, bowing his head slightly.

They continued their trek up to the common room and through the Fat Lady portrait.

Lily and James stopped at the base of the dormitory stairs to kiss each other good night as Sirius took the stairs two at a time.

"No more secrets from now on, right?" asked Lily. She kissed him and then peeled away again, "Right?"

"Right," said James, smiling down at her. "G'night."

James watched Lily walk up the stairs to her dorm and heard Sirius come down their own with a silvery thing in hand. "Got the invisibility cloak. Ready to go?"

James nodded, smiling and the both ducked underneath the cloak, the Marauder's Map in hand.

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Sirius is quickly becoming my favorite character even more than before! Remember, the more you review, the more I write! Come on people! Work with me here! Once I get some free time from school and soccer, I'll try and get more chapters up. 


	3. Chapter 3

Come on, you guys! I know you're reading this, but I only have two reviews. TWO! Now that's just depressing. You all make me sad…

So yeah, I'm home sick right now. My entire family came down with the stomach flu and it looks like I'm next in line! Here's the third chapter.

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Chapter 3: The End?

The next morning, classes began. During Potions, Professor Slughorn rambled on and on about his connections with important people and everyone was getting bored.

James was rocking back and forth on the hind legs of his chair and staring at the ceiling; Remus buried his face in his arms as he slept on top of his books; and Peter was watching the birds fly past the window in the bright morning sky. Lily was scribbling chicken-scratch on her spare piece of parchment.

Sirius, on the other hand, was having a fantastic time.

He had an entire stock of paper footballs lying next to his quill as he lined up the shot, and flicked the wad of paper towards the back of Snape's head. Snape had the misfortune of sitting directly in front of the Marauder's table.

That morning, Gryffindor and Slytherin had Double Potions and Sirius took the opportunity to bother the crap out of Snape.

He cackled silently as the paper smacked Snape in the back of the head and rebounded onto the floor.

Of course, Professor Slughorn paid no heed to Sirius's form of entertainment and continued to drone on and on about Mafilda the Wild, the Keeper for the famous Quidditch team, the Wimbourne Wasps, who was once a student of his.

Snape tried to ignore Sirius but to no avail. His quill hand was shaking so violently it appeared he had low blood sugar.

Soon, Sirius ran out of paper footballs and began crumpling up pieces of parchment and laid each on the palm of his hand. He flicked it at Snape but missed. "Oh,…" Sirius muttered, disappointed in his poor aim.

Suddenly, the bell rang and everyone scrambled to get out of class. James piled his books on top of each other and shoved them in his bag. Swinging it over his shoulder, he made his way into the queue of people exiting the classroom.

Once into the hallway, James noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Lily?"

Sirius, Remus and Peter shrugged, but at that second, Lily emerged from the Potions classroom tucking a slip of paper into her bag. "Sorry. I had to stay behind for a second."

"Oh, alright," James said. "Well, we're lucky that Slughorn didn't stop long enough to realize that he didn't assign us any homework. Do you want to come out and watch the team practice for a bit after dinner?"

He was referring to Gryffindor's Quidditch team which he was Chaser for.

"Actually, I've got other plans after dinner tonight. Is it alright if I catch up with you later?" Lily said, looking guilty.

"Yeah… sure," James said, feeling slightly disappointed. "Do you mind me asking what you're doing?"

"I'm going to get tutored for Potions. It's not a big deal. I just want some help with the assignments," Lily said shrugging.

"Oh. Right," James said.

The couple made their way up to Gryffindor Tower silently, while Sirius bullied Peter into telling him what his girlfriend looked like.

"C'mon mate! You've got to know what she looks like!" He said, replying to Peter's excuses of "I dunno."

"Speaking of which, Sirius. Don't you have a date with a certain bench buddy?" asked Remus.

"Dah! I nearly forgot! I'll see you guys at dinner, alright?" Sirius said quickly, dumping his bag on James's shoulder. "Later!"

And Sirius ran in the opposite direction, leaping down the flights of stairs.

The rest of the troupe made it to Gryffindor Tower in one piece, accounting for the fact that Peeves attempted to dump a large cabinet on top of Peter. Watching Lily go up the stairs to her dormitory, Remus came up behind James and said, "Is it just me, or are you two growing more distant each time you try to get together?"

James sighed and walked away to put his and Sirius's bag in their room.

"Ouch," said Remus, "And I thought I was the one being moody lately."

"I don't think it's you. I think it's just our last year. He's probably worried he'll never see Lily again if it comes down to it," Peter said, sitting on the couch.

"Yeah, you're probably right," said Remus. He sat down on the arm of the chair and looked into the empty fire pit.

Suddenly, a red hot pain seared across Remus's abdomen. He winced and clutched his stomach as the pain throbbed, then slowly subsided.

"Hey. You alright?" Peter asked, sitting up.

"Yeah. It's just nearing the full moon, that's all." Remus said.

James appeared down the stairs and stepped onto the main floor, "Right. Let's head off. I'm starving."

The food was good as usual; James and Remus started talking about the standings for this year's national Quidditch Cup final.

"Clearly, it'll be Falmouth Falcons this year," said Remus.

"No way. It's got to be America's Fitchburg Finches. No doubt about it," James argued back. "Of course, they've got Maximus Brankovitch III. He might just be starting his career but I'll think he'll take them far."

Suddenly, Sirius came into the Great Hall looking smug and had a droopy expression in his eyes. His hair was tousled and his shirt collar had one tucked in and one flopped out. He also had what appeared to be lip stick smudged on his lips.

"Here comes James Bond," said Remus.

"Who?" asked James.

"He's a character in a Muggle movie." Remus took another breath to try and explain it but thought better, "Never mind."

James called Sirius over with an "Oy!" and Sirius came over to them.

He sat down at the table and happily scooped turkey onto his plate and began filling the rest of his plate with other foods.

"Have a good time?" James asked, smirking.

"Yeah," said Sirius dreamily.

"You've got lipstick on you," Peter said, pointing.

"Eh? Oh," Sirius looked at his reflection in his goblet and wiped it off.

"Do you even know this girl's name?" asked Remus.

"Nope," said Sirius, taking a swig from his goblet.

Remus looked horrified and Sirius quickly said, "Don't worry. I didn't shag her. I'm not shallow— well, not _that _shallow."

James smiled and shook his head while Peter looked on in wonder. He'd always looked up to Sirius and James for their habit of rule-breaking. Remus smacked himself in the forehead with his palm.

"You didn't happen to see Lily on your way back, Sirius?" asked James, suddenly remembering why she wasn't there.

"Aren't you being a bit obsessive right now? She's just getting tutored," said Remus.

"I just want to know! That's all!" James retorted.

"Well, for the record, no I didn't," said Sirius. "I came straight here after I was done."

"But this is Lily we're talking about! Lily! The perfect student any teacher could hope for! Why would she need tutoring?" James sighed, giving up.

"This is going to turn out unhealthy for you," warned Remus.

"Forget it. I'm going upstairs to fetch my broomstick. I'm going to go practice for a bit," James said, pushing his plate forward and getting up.

He left the Great Hall and went up the marble staircase once again to the Gryffindor Tower.

Once he retrieved his Nimbus 1000, and went back down the stairs to the grounds he took a deep breath of cold, brisk air. It was getting darker by the minute and James took off into the air once he touched the grass.

(Author's Note: Cue "One More Sad Song" by The All-American Rejects. Hee hee.)

He was in a foul mood, scowling even though he should have been relieved to get on a broomstick once again.

But he couldn't stop thinking about Lily. He felt suspicious about her furtive actions and didn't want to be left in the dark.

He chewed pensively on the inside of his cheek, pondering what was happening between the two of them. First, he couldn't find time to call Lily over the summer, now they couldn't find time to spend with each other after classes.

Was it the end of their relationship?

James's stomach twisted uncomfortably as that thought struck him.

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Wow… That was a pretty good fluff filled chapter. I mean, for me it is. I'm usually an action-freak where I need at least one thing to blow up. I can't believe I made a chapter full of angst. Kudos to me for effort! Not my best work, but I'm getting there. 


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone! I'm back and ready to write some more chapters! I'm in kind of a Harry Potter high right now. I saw the fourth movie on November 18th at 12:01 in the morning. I was dead on my feet. But it was great! The movie was the best one out of them all. Except the Quidditch World Cup… which I'm still angry about. Where was it! Where!

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Chapter 4: Ghosts of the Past

The next day, James, Sirius, Remus and Lily all had Defense Against the Dark Arts with the new professor. Peter on the other hand was off to Herbology because he didn't get the marks to make it into the 7th year DADA class.

They waved to him as he walked out of the large oak doors and then turned the opposite way up the marble staircase.

"So this new teacher, have you heard anything about her?" asked Sirius. "I wonder if I can sleep in that class…" he said, talking to no one.

"From what I hear, she's scary," Lily said.

"Scary! Ha! Who told you that?" Sirius scoffed.

"Bertha Jorkins," said Lily.

Sirius snorted with apprehension.

"Quiet. Bertha's nice," Lily said, scolding Sirius.

"Fact of the matter is Bertha can get lost in her own broom cupboard," Sirius said, adjusting his bag. "And if there was a way to choke on rice, she'd find it."

James and Remus laughed while Lily rolled her eyes.

As they sat down in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Sirius and James were playing thumb wars while Lily and Remus talked quietly. The room began to fill up around them as students sat down and awaited the beginning of class.

Suddenly, the bell rang signaling the beginning of class.

Almost as if timed with each other, another door flew open at the front of the room. A woman marched into the room and quickly pushed the door to the hallway shut. No sooner had the door slammed shut, could hear a smack of body on wood. Apparently, someone was running so fast, they couldn't stop as she shut the door in his or her face.

Lily began to stand up, an expression of concern on her face, "Professor? What was that noise?"

Professor Perd slowly opened the door to find Tim Robbins, a lanky brown haired 7th year, on his butt covering his nose. His books and bag was sprawled all over the floor next to him.

Professor Perd glared down her long pointy nose to look at Tim as if he was some sort of disgusting insect. He looked up at her, blood running in between his fingers and onto his robes. "Get to class on time and accidents won't happen," she said, with a greasy whisper.

"She did that on purpose," Lily whispered as she sat back down.

Sirius and James gave each other apprehensive looks. Remus hid his own behind his book; he knew that Bertha was no longer exaggerating.

"Get inside," the professor hissed, "or ten points from Gryffindor."

Tim quickly grabbed his books with his left hand, keeping his other over profusely bleeding nose.

"Now before I was rudely interrupted, my name is Professor Perd. I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. No nonsense. No disrespect. No tolerance. Once you step foot in the classroom… I own you," she said, pacing up and down between the rows of desks.

"And who do we have here?" Perd said, her voice ringing with mock amusment from the back of the classroom. "Ah! Mr. Potter and Mr. Black, I presume? Oh and Mr. Lupin as well! What a joy this is indeed. I've heard so much about you from your previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

James, Sirius, and Remus's stomach flipped.

She swooped in next to the group's desk and smiled with iniquity at them. "Be aware, I have no patience for practical jokes or pranks. I trust you are intelligent enough to take heed to that."

"Ms. Lily Evans. It's such a shame that a good student like yourself has integrated with this group of hoodlums. It's just a pity." Suddenly, Perd's expression turned to that of malice, "Oh! From what I remember hearing, you and Mr. Potter are dating? Then that explains it. When one lies down with the dogs, they rise with the fleas."

Lily scowled and turned away. Perd seemed to enjoy Lily's reaction and continued on.

"Mr. Black," she said, now turning to him, "Your cousin is… Bellatrix? Am I correct?..."

Sirius glared up at her, his jaw set.

"Yes. And your brother? Regulus? He looks just like you."

Sirius turned red with silent anger then looked straight ahead to the board at the front of the room.

"Mmhmm… just as I thought," Perd said, her lip curling.

Perd tured her attention to Remus, who was trying not to look at her. "Mr. Lupin,… well, now… that's interesting," she said, with a raised eyebrow. And without another glance at Remus, she rounded on James.

"And finally Mr. Potter. My you are infamous… or rather famous with your classmates. We will have quite an interesting year,… I can see." Perd raised her eyebrows again and then walked away.

She began laying down the law about what was expected in her classroom but James wasn't listening. "Hey," he whispered, nudging Sirius. "You alright?"

Sirius shook his head slowly and whispered back, "I can't believe she sunk so low as to say my brother looks like me."

"Come on, it can't be that bad of a compliment," said Lily, leaning in.

"Oh yes it is," Sirius said, finally taking his gaze away from the board. "You don't understand."

He stared at his feet and didn't respond to anything else.

Lily sat back in her seat and looked at James, she seemed to say 'I've never seen him act like this before'.

James nodded, agreeing.

Just before the class ended, Perd assigned a 4 page essay on werewolves and how to identify them.

"You don't think—" said James to Remus.

"Yeah, I do think she knows," Remus said, cutting in.

"Knows what?" Lily asked.

"Nothing," James and Remus said at the same time.

Lily looked as if she was left out of the loop and remained silent. She noticed that Sirius wasn't joining in on the conversation and looked over her shoulder to find that he was trailing behind quietly.

She slowed up so she could walk next to him and he looked away, seemingly interested in the suit of armor ahead.

Lily didn't say anything to him. She just wanted to stay by him to let him know that she was always there for him. He seemed to loosen up a little, realizing that Lily wasn't going to interrogate him for his thoughts.

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Ack! I gotta go to my soccer game! Thoughts on this chapter: Not really that exciting, but I'm just building up to the action packed sequences! Yay! 


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys! I want to thank all of you who have been reviewing. It's been great! But I couldn't help but commenting on a certain review I got. Terrorists/ Death Eaters? The Marauders? I'm sorry, but don't you feel you're using that term a little to the extreme? I think that's just taking it a little too seriously. If you don't think that the Marauders are good people as characters, can I ask why you even read my fan fiction?

Other than that, you guys have all been great! I'd like to see a little more constructive criticism on your part so I can improve on my creative writing!

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Chapter 5: A Night to Remember Pt 1.

Four days passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye. It was now Friday night, and the three remaining Marauders seemed particularly apprehensive during classes.

Remus had been very apt to take his potion the previous days and was feeling the effects of the moon taking its toll on his body. He skipped today's classes on account to his ailing health.

Classes for the day had finally ended, and after dinner the three Marauders and Lily sat in the Gryffindor common room with the rest of their House. Lily sat by the fire, studying her Advanced Potions book and Peter laid in front of her with his Herbology homework spread out in front of him.

The last two, however, decided that homework was overrated at this time of night. Instead, they played in a game of wizard chess were James won magnificently with a bundle of vicious pawns and a particularly violent queen's side castle.

Slowly, the common room began to waiver thin as droopy eyed students made their way up to bed.

Finally, Lily closed her book shut and placed it back in her bag, "I'm going to bed. I guess I'll see you all tomorrow then." She walked over to James and kissed the top of his head.

He let out a distracted grunt of acknowledgement, keeping his eyes set on the game in front of him, "See you in the morning."

Suddenly, Sirius swiftly moved his pawn to the edge of the board and shouted, "King me!"

James glanced up at him and asked, "Did you just say 'King me'?"

Sirius nodded, looking smug.

James smiled and tried not to laugh, "Did you think that we've been playing checkers this entire time?"

Lily smiled as she walked up the spiral staircase, listening to Sirius's groans of disappointment. ("I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS GAME! YOU'VE BEEN CHEATING!")

Settled in bed and shutting off her bedside lamp, Lily nestled into her covers and listened to the silence of her dormitory. The full moon's rays shone through her window and onto the covers of her bed. Her thoughts drifted back and forth to her boyfriend and her internal conflict about telling him what she's been doing after classes.

But he had plenty more secrets of his own that she felt completely cancelled out hers.

Secrets were the biggest problem between their relationships with each other. Things not said between them seemed to push Lily and James further apart.

It hurt Lily with the fact that this could be a parting of ways between James and herself.

Eventually, Lily drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

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"Think she's asleep yet?" asked Sirius, after a good amount of time had passed since Lily had gone upstairs.

"Yeah. She should be," said James. "Let's go."

James scaled the stairs and retrieved his invisibility cloak as well as changed into Muggle clothing. Sirius and Peter came up behind as they changed into their Muggle clothing as well.

Ever so quietly, the three made their way down the stairs, out the portrait hole (concealed underneath the cloak), and descended the marble staircase.

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Remus was hunched in a corner of the Shrieking Shack, breathing heavily as the effects of his curse began to make him transform.

Gasps and growls escaped from his throat as the skin on his body turned into dark grey fur. He dug his quickly changing fingers into his face as his nose began to elongate into a pointed snout.

He ripped the clothes off of his body and screamed into the ceiling of the room. His eyes changed to a yellow color and finally the transformation was complete.

Where Remus once crouched, a large grey wolf now stood. His yellow eyes danced across the room and observed his surroundings, sniffing the air.

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"I think we can take the cloak off now," said Peter, once they had made down the stairs and across the grounds towards the Whomping Willow.

James pulled it off the three of them and wrapped it up and put it in his bag. They walked around the bend of trees and out of sight of the castle.

Close to the tree, the three stopped.

"Come on, Peter. It's cold. Hurry up," Sirius said, clutching himself and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Alright! Alright!" Peter said annoyed. "Be back in a few."

Peter soon changed into his Animagus form; a rat. He scampered in the grass towards the trunk of the enormous tree.

The Whomping Willow had a bad reputation at the school. The tree would literally whomp anyone who came within reach of the long branches. Dumbledore soon made going anywhere near the tree forbidden once a boy nearly lost an eye on account of a dare to get as close to it as possible.

The reason it was put there in the first place was so Remus could sneak out during the full moon and hide in his secret place away from any human contact. The Shrieking Shack, a formidable haunted house, was the perfect spot.

At the base of the tree was a knot in the trunk. Touching the twisted bark with is paw, Peter made the tree freeze; rigid in place. It wouldn't move again for a full 2 minutes.

" 'Atta boy," said Sirius, thankful to get out of the cold. He moved forward and squeezed in between the trunk to slide into the tunnel. James followed soon after, with Peter at his heels.

Peter transformed back into his human form, getting up from his sprawled position on the floor.

"Remus should be waiting for us. Let's go," James said, running down the tunnel and to their meeting place.

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Lily stirred from her bed. Sitting up, she had been chilled from the brisk night's breeze through the slightly open window.

She swung her legs over the side and crept to the glass to close it. But as she grasped onto the handles, her eye caught something in the moonlight that made her angry. From what she could see it was James, Sirius and Peter making their way quickly across the grass.

"You've got to be kidding me…" she mumbled, watching the figures run across the grounds and disappear from view.

So this is one thing that they've been keeping from her. She was sick of them always talking about some secret adventures but she'd never cared to find out how they'd been doing them. This was her time to confront James about how she disliked the secrets between them.

_I'm such a hypocrite,_ she thought, _I'm keeping secrets from him and getting upset about his own! Besides… they're out of bed after hours._

She clambered over to her bed and to her trunk to get clothes. She found a pair of jeans, a T-Shirt and her dark blue pea-coat. She pulled her straight red hair up into a ponytail and tugged on a pair of running shoes. She knew she'd need them.

Lily got up and crossed the dormitory quietly and down the spiral staircase.

"I'm going to kill you, James Potter," she said to herself as she jogged out of the portrait hole and down the hallway.

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That's all for now. I've got to head off to my relative's place for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. It's snowing too! The first snow of the year! Yay! I'm so happy. And a double bonus: a week long break from school starts tomorrow! (Squee!) This means I'll be writing a lot more. See you all soon.

Review or die.

Happy Thanksgiving! (To everyone who celebrates it.)


	6. Chapter 6

Wow! We've got a lot of snow here in Michigan. It's great! I'm so happy. I love it when it snows. And the strange part is, it only started yesterday! Now we've got like 5 inches or something!

So now that I'm here, maybe I'll write another chapter? Yeah. I think so too.

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Chapter 6: A Night to Remember Pt 2

Lily darted across the dew-strewn grass and towards the general direction that the group had gone.

She wondered why in the world those three would be out at this time of night. Was it some sort of secret meeting? A secret society! What about sneaking into the Forbidden Forest to try and wrestle an acromantula or something?

Her stomach lurched at the thought and increased her speed. Even James shouldn't be arrogant enough to do something as stupid as that…. But Sirius might….

She turned around the corner behind the forest and stopped once she saw was in front of her.

A monstrous willow towered over the grounds. Lily stared up at the branches. She'd heard stories about this tree. Bad stories.

She swallowed hard, trying to figure out where they had gone.

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The three Marauders finally made it to the Shrieking Shack.

As James pushed open the trap door concealed in the floor, they all transformed into their Animagus forms.

James was a stag, Sirius as the great black dog, and Peter returned to his rat shape.

The three stepped into the Shrieking Shack and approached the separated room where Remus was waiting.

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Lily tapped her foot impatiently. She was getting tired of trying to wait and see if the others came out of the forest or not.

When she looked down, trying to figure out some way to get them all back without getting into trouble, an interesting pattern caught her eye.

She stooped down to the grass and saw shoe marks in the grass. It led all the way from where she was to the Willow itself.

She moaned and looked up at the tree again.

With a determined sigh, she straightened up and headed right for the trunk.

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The complete Marauders ventured out of the Shrieking Shack and down the sloping lawn to Hogsmeade.

Peter was perched on James's head, right in between his large antlers. Peter was too small to keep up with the strides of the others. But James didn't mind carrying Peter at all.

They walked into the deserted streets of Hogsmeade and Sirius look in all of the windows, trying to find something of interest.

His breathing misted up the window and he moved on. He ran ahead and looked inside the Three Broomsticks.

Inside, it was dark like every other shop but for one exception.

A single lamp inside was lit on a small table in the back. Seated around it were three figures.

One was the bar keeper Jason Zembrowski. Zembrowski was a built man with broad shoulders and a strong body. He may look like he could break your neck with a flick of his wrist, but he was one of the nicest guys in the area.

The other was Professor McGonagall and finally Professor Dumbledore himself.

They were speaking in low voices, even Sirius couldn't hear what they were saying very well. They were bent low over the table and muttered to each other over something very grave.

McGonagall's face was ashen and she didn't seem to look very well.

"Hey, Sirius," said James, from back in the main part of the village. "We didn't come all the way out here to look inside shop windows."

Sirius looked at James, then back into the bar. He wanted to find out why the three of them looked so uneasy. It was something serious and Sirius didn't feel too confident about the matter either.

Finally, Sirius dashed away from the window and back to the group.

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Lily jumped back and forth, dodging the smashing branches of the tree. She dove into a space and rolled out of the way as a branch smacked into the ground were she had been only moments before.

She scrambled up and tried to make it to the trunk but was smashed in the abdomen with a large branch and throw backward away from the trunk.

Lily lay on the ground, breathing heavily. This was the 17th time that she tried to make it through the branches but it was no use. Even paralyzing spells wouldn't work on this thing.

She had multiple bruises on her stomach and back and had a small cut above her eyebrow.

Getting thoroughly frustrated, Lily jumped up and picked up a rock from the ground. "Augh! Bloody tree!" she roared, throwing the rock with all her might at the trunk.

But something happened that made her calm down. The small rock hit the tree trunk exactly on a knot located just above the base. The tree shivered for a moment, then froze completely.

Lily looked up at the branches, then back down at the base. She smiled with victory and headed straight for the unmoving trunk.

She wiggled in between the trunk and slid down into a dank tunnel. Straightening up, she looked around for James or anyone. But no one was in sight.

Taking a deep breath, she walked deeper into the tunnel.

After what seemed like ages, the tunnel began to slope upward. Lily increased her speed in the dark and bumped her head on something hard above her.

She retreated, grabbing onto the top of her head, tears streaking her eyes.

Lily put her hand upward and approached the thing again to find that it was made of wood.

Pushing harder, the wood opened up to reveal moonlight shining through the cracks. She poked her head above the floor and saw that she was now in some sort of musty room with absolutely no furniture and peeling wallpaper.

She pushed open the trap door even more and crawled out onto the dusty floor.

Lily straightened up and looked around the room for some sort of sign of James.

In the corner of the room, she did notice a dark cloth lying on the floor. She walked over to it and picked it up. It felt watery and smooth in her hands. Lily recognized it as an Invisibility Cloak.

She dropped it back to the floor and saw paw prints of various different animals all over the floor.

Her brow furrowed with curiosity as she followed them into another room and out a window.

She jumped out of the building and looked up to the place where she had just left. It was the Shrieking Shack. A shiver went up her spine at the thought that she had just been in one of the most haunted places in Britain without even realizing it.

Turning and walking down the sloping lawn, she hopped the wire fence and into Hogsmeade.

The village was quiet and dark. It gave Lily an uneasy feeling as if she was being watched.

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"Is it just me or do you think that Lily followed us?" asked Sirius sarcastically as he watched her .

The four of spotted her long before she had made her way into town and hid behind a group of barrels in front of Honeydukes.

James had to hunch down low or else his antlers would be seen. His heart pounded at the fact that Lily had followed them.

"Hey,… where'd Remus go? He was just here," Sirius said, looking behind him.

James head snapped up and he looked frantically around for any sign of a great big werewolf lurking in the shadows.

"Oh no," he said quietly.

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Remus prowled around the shop and looked out at Lily from around the corner. Two sides of him fought for domination.

One part said to leave Lily be. She was innocent.

But another side, a more ravenous side, told him to get her. He hadn't had fun in a while and needed to play. To kill.

Remus fought off his more demonic side, trying to keep it at bay. But it was stronger. Even though he had taken the potion, he was still dangerous.

Remus lunged out of the shadows and charged straight for Lily.

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Okay, well, I've got to go get ready for Thanksgiving festivities now! But as soon as the cheek squeezing and hugging is over after dinner, I'll probably write some more!

Review! It always makes me happy to know that people enjoy my writing. Also, give me some constructive criticism! It's killing me how you aren't saying anything about how I can improve! (Hehe. Thanks Rosie for that last review!)

See you guys soon!


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